We could discuss sauna benefits all day. Of the myriad trending wellness hacks, a traditional sauna—not an infrared sauna, not the steam room, and certainly not an ice bath—is one of the most reliably beneficial and scientifically validated modalities out there, backed by decades of research and confidently endorsed by leading physicians and scientists, many of whom are sauna users themselves.
Generally speaking, you don’t have to stress about finding the perfect time to use a sauna. “As long as it's part of your routine, the benefits—the cardiovascular benefits, the neurological benefits, the overall anti-inflammatory benefits, the mitochondrial benefits—are going to happen no matter where it falls in your day or week,” says Jason Sonners, DC, PhD, a longevity and recovery expert leading research at the University of Miami’s Department of Molecular Biology. That said, there are some reasons to schedule your sauna time right after your workouts. For example, “if you’re using it for muscle soreness, specifically, then the closer to the workout, the better,” Dr. Sonners says.
A post-workout sauna sesh can also be time-saving. It usually takes a couple of minutes for a sauna to rev up your heart rate and core temperature. But right after a workout, you’re likely already halfway there. “You can kind of leverage the fact that your temperature's already up,” says Christopher T. Minson, PhD, a professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon. “For someone like me who has a full-time job and a lot of responsibilities and everything else, trying to be as efficient as possible with my time is important.”
Whether you’re looking to free up more time in your week, bounce back faster from HIIT workouts, or take the sting out of trying to stay in shape in your 40s, here’s why you might want to start hitting the sauna after your workouts.
Why you should hit the sauna after a workout
Just like the weight room, in order to see any results from spending time in a sauna, you have to actually step into one from time to time. (Like, a couple of times a week.) That might seem easy on paper, but it’s not hard to imagine how a standalone sauna session could get squeezed out of a tight schedule that might already include a couple of trips to the gym.
“If I separate my workout from my sauna, that means I'm getting sweaty and showering twice,” says Dr. Minson. “Not that that's a problem, but I just get tired of it. Especially when I do some swimming—that might even mean a third shower. It’s just too much.”
Instead, just combine them and hit the sauna directly after your workout. “I think a big piece of it is just the convenience,” says Dr. Sonners. “I'm already hot. I'm already sweating. I might as well keep sweating, and then I'm going to shower anyway. So why don't I just put those things together?” Even if you’re just after general sauna benefits and not particularly interested in its post-workout potential, this may be your best shot at making the habit stick. ”From a practicality standpoint, doing your workout followed by the sauna has that simplicity benefit,” says Dr. Minson.
Hitting the sauna after a workout can up recovery
Applying heat to tired, sore muscles just feels good. But spending time in a sauna, especially right after your workout, can actually help prevent muscle soreness to begin with—both directly following training, and even days later.
“When you work out, your body becomes more acidic, and you have these hydrogen ions that can cause some soreness both during and after your workout,” says Ben Yamuder, MS, CSCS, USAW-1, an exercise physiologist at HSS. This will usually clear within an hour or so of training, but a post-workout sauna session can move things along much more quickly. “What happens is, you get more blood flow, and that helps to clear out some of those acidic ions in the muscle that can cause tightness and stiffness,” Yamuder says. “If you're a pretty well-trained athlete, you can get kind of the same effect from just going on a brisk walk, but with the sauna it's more passive—all you’ve really got to do is sit there.”
